Crypto Trading in Africa

In this guide, we go over crypto trading in Africa. We wish to pinpoint areas that need improvement, what regulations are in place, and general situation with African trading industry. We also investigate what instruments and platforms are available for African investors to use currently. Lastly, the article concludes with future prospects of the crypto industry.

Thus, we made this review in order to help you with determining the latest trends that can help you trade coins in your country.

Is Crypto Trading Legal in Africa?

As with every continent, different regions of Africa have their own position regarding crypto trade in general. Some are more open and wish to further develop the digital market. Others are more conservative, mainly due to money laundering risks and issues.

Thus, we organized countries into three categories according to the crypto’s legal status. There are those that accepted and legalized cryptocurrencies, those that banned them, and those that took a completely passive stance.

Where is it Regulated?

Countries that allow its citizens to trade bitcoins and other digital currencies areMauritius, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. It is important to note that none of these countries have any specific laws concerning cryptos. Mauritius might be the closest but the policy reading bitcoin and altcoins are still in works. Trading is allowed, however, allowing African investors to make a profit from international platforms.

Where is Banned?

There are also countries that banned cryptos altogether, though many are reconsidering their positions. These are Namibia, Algeria, and Morocco. In the case of Namibia, the Central Bank banned bitcoin from commercial uses, meaning that you can purchase products with coins. In 2017, the government went a step further, and banned coins altogether, including in trade markets.

In Between

All other countries took a passive stance, allowing markets to develop by them or are in the process of investigation. Egypt, for example, issued a warning regarding cryptocurrencies but did not ban or developed policies for them. In most cases, governmental representatives saw that trading markets are too small to take notice. Africa’s purchase power is at a lot lower level than in developed regions after all.

The Bottom Line

Overall, unlike in USA or EU, there are no specific accounting standards regarding cryptos in Africa. In most countries, you can trade coins without an issue, with no need to even pay taxes for your operations. However, you are not protected from frauds and hacking incidents. The market size is small compared to developed regions. Until industry picks up in growth, very little further development is expected.

How Strong is the Trading
Market?

Unfortunately, the market is not large. Looking at the number of trading platforms that have headquarters within the continent, you will see why. Most of the trade is done through international websites, such as Bitfinex and BitMex. There are regular exchanges that allow crypto trading in Africa on its basis but trading centers are mostly international.

Another issue is the lack of domestic currency trade possibilities. Deposits made through bank transfers are limited to internationally-accepted fiats, such as USD and EUR.In many African nations, data is not even available regarding trade volume and value of transactions. Thus, we deem the market to be very small.

Availability of Tools

African traders, through platforms like Haasbot, Trading View, and Gekko, do have access to software and APIs. These do help trading efforts but are developed outside of the African continent. Internally-made products are a rare sight, with very little content to work with. Since most of these services are available online, anyone with an internet connection and funds in a bank can reach them. You can check out Haasbot’s program in the picture below.

What the Future Holds

Currently, there is a lot of space to further develop the cryptocurrency market in Africa. However, there is a little political will to push the market forwards, apart from several countries like Mauritius and Nigeria. The main issue is the purchasing power and lack of domestically-based trading centers. The market size is simply too small for the agenda to be pushed in the future at the moment.

Foreign capital would greatly help the market grow, though the competition from other regions in the world is great. Thus, it will be interesting to see what African officials would decide upon in the following period. Africa also holds the largest number of countries that have banned crypto altogether, with bug chances of others following the suit.

In most cases, fear of money laundering and lack of control are greatest obstacles when trading in crypto is concerned. Many countries are yet to even legally consider coins, as the market is practically nonexistent within their borders.

Available Platforms

The following websites serve a global market and are not of African origin. Regular exchanges are what African businesses work with right now, while trading centers are practically nonexistent.

Bitfinex – This Asian platform offers a flexible interface and a great number of digital coins to work with. With over 100 trading pairs, the company also holds a place of largest trading volume in a word for USD/BTC pair. At this moment, deposits are available through USD-expresses bank transfers, while margin trading and leveraging functions are readily available. To know more about the company, visit our guide about itю

Kraken – This platform offers a largest EUR-oriented marketplace for crypto trading. You have the ability to invest in bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin Bitcoin Cash and several others as well. Verification of your personal documents is not needed up to a certain level (up to $2.000). You can check out our review while the interface is shown below this text.

CEX.IO – Is one of those truly global crypto trading platforms. African traders can invest in simple trading operations, using Limit, market and Margin trading functions. You also have leverage not needed up to 3x. As for the deposits, you have the option to use bank while the expressed in USD, EUR, GBP, and RUB. To understand CEX.IO’s benefits and functions better, we made an article about the platform using th latest information available.

Conclusion

We investigated the current situation regarding crypto trading in Africa. It is evident that African industry still has a long way to go. Several governments banned the coins within their borders while others ignore them due to how small the industry is. There are also no domestically-based platforms or tools available for African investors at the moment.

If you happen to live outside of Africa, you can make use of our guides about different regions and search out your country.